Verstappen beats Sainz to pole in chaotic Baku qualifying

BAKU, Azerbaijan - Max Verstappen denied Carlos Sainz and Williams a daze rod presumption successful 1 of the large Formula 1 qualifying sessions, featuring six reddish flags.

Championship person Oscar Piastri was 1 of the drivers to clang retired and volition commencement Sunday's contention successful ninth, up of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, who besides deed the wall.

Piastri's teammate Lando Norris squandered a aureate accidental to capitalise, tapping the partition connected his ain last thigh erstwhile rod presumption appeared to beryllium determination for the taking - helium volition commencement seventh.

While drivers were crashing retired crossed the field, Verstappen erstwhile again highlighted wherefore helium is simply a four-time satellite champion, nailing his past effort to pip Sainz by a comfortably 0.4 seconds.

Sainz besides improved connected his precocious thigh to clasp connected to a beforehand enactment start.

A "very happy" Sainz said aft the session: "Honestly, we person nailed the qualifying today. Every clip being connected the close tyre connected the close clip and putting unneurotic immoderate precise beardown laps."

Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson volition commencement from 3rd -- his champion presumption of the play -- up of Mercedes teammates Andrea Kimi Antonelli and George Russell.

The New Zealand operator said: "Honestly, I can't adjacent retrieve what happened, it was truthful busy. I said it would be, but I didn't expect it to beryllium similar that."

The melodramatic league lasted 20 minutes longer than past year's full Azerbaijan Grand Prix and came conscionable hours aft the circuit confirmed a caller woody with Formula 1 to host the contention until 2030.

The melodramatic decorativeness came down to a premix of Baku's tricky way and a airy sprinkling of rainfall precocious on. Sainz had benefitted from being connected of the archetypal drivers retired connected way arsenic the upwind changed, going quickest up of Lawson and Isack Hadjar.

With galore of the front-runners fractional mode circular the circuit mounting timed laps, Leclerc's clang past nullified the session.

With the upwind worsening a archetypal Williams rod presumption since the 2014 Azerbaijan Grand Prix felt similar a tantalising possibility. "You tin commencement dancing to spot if rains harder," Sainz joked to his squad during the reddish emblem delay.

When the league went greenish again, Verstappen instantly looked quick, suggesting the rainfall was not arsenic bad, but was denied the accidental to amended erstwhile Piastri made a highly uncharacteristic mistake and slid disconnected the circuit into the obstruction astatine Turn 4. That meant different reddish emblem conscionable arsenic Verstappen approached the line.

With conscionable implicit 3 minutes near the remaining runners dashed retired again for a precocious lap. Norris appeared to beryllium close connected the bounds astatine the extremity of the league and connected 2 occasions came adjacent to scraping the wall. He did truthful astatine Turn 15, moving on the TechPro barrier. He finished a afloat 2nd shy of Verstappen's time, hinting astatine however costly that infinitesimal was for him.

Verstappen said it was a "long qualifying with truthful galore reddish flags.

"So it was precise hard to get your thigh unneurotic due to the fact that astir of the clip your tyres were not truly ready, oregon a reddish emblem happened. Especially Q3, with besides a spot of rainfall around, it was a precise hard session. In the last lap, you conscionable person to nonstop it. I wasn't adjacent connected the champion tyres that I wanted, due to the fact that of each the reddish flags you fundamentally tally retired of tyres.

"I'm precise ...